


Almost Girlhood

by ifonlysnapewasreal



Category: Good Lord Bird (Showtime), The Good Lord Bird
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifonlysnapewasreal/pseuds/ifonlysnapewasreal
Summary: The stated benefits of being a girl (and the ones Onion declined to comment on).
Relationships: Annie Brown/Henry Shackleford, Onion/Annie
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Almost Girlhood

There are benefits to being seen as a girl. 

Onion says it’s all the perks (not having to do hard chores like the other Brown boys, getting more sympathy for your complaints.). There’s something else though- some personal satisfaction about it. Onion thinks the way people look at Henrietta- a proper young colored lady- is kinder then the way they would treat Henry. It’s more then that though: something in the way Annie talks: something in the way Owen takes care in a way that suggests a delicacy about Onion. Like- like maybe Onion is a person who deserves protection and kindness and love. At first it blends in with the new big family feeling: after the death of Father- the only family left in the whole world- it had been nice to be adopted into a family as one of their own. Not only a new siblings and daughter but as a full human. The world expanded for Onion as a girl- and so maybe at first it was easy to excuse the new inclination towards womanhood as just new experiences and freedoms. But even as a guy- even before as a son of a barber- there had been something missing. Something more then the freedom. Something wordy and down-low. 

But this is war- and there is no time for trying to place a feeling and a way of being you don’t have the words for. Easier to be called a sissy, to kiss Annie (because she is gorgeous and kind), to do a big reveal, and only for a moment look in the mirror when Bob says your mustache is growing in. Stare for a while. Then someone knocks on the door- it’s a full house. It’s a busy year- and then things are falling apart so fast there’s no time to worry about if it feels good to have lived functionally as a young woman in a dress for almost two years. 

In the cell towards the end Mr. Brown says he never carried what clothes you wore- just like he didn’t care about your shoe size. He’s dying. He’s going to die. And for one selfish moment you want to ask him to tell you more. Because John Brown puts words into moving living color. And you have heard him make sense of the world and taken his lead. But it passes- this can’t be your moment. This is his. This is for the history books to wonder about- and you are a supporting role. 

In the end you breathe in deeply and chalk it up to the thrill of that chapter in your life: no purpose in complicating things. And you grab his hands- and start to pray one last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me with comments and crits. First fic- first in the fandom tag too!!


End file.
